I like the analogy. But shouldn’t the question be why elite college admissions have become to resemble the Alabama sorority rush process?
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I also remember when mine was going through rush at her SEC school, she would tell me the girls would have to meet in the morning with the rush groups to find out how many “houses” haven’t dropped them for the next round. She said girls were crying and then some dropped out of rush when they would get dropped by a house they wanted. She said it was really over dramatic (the whole process). But one could see how that could be gut wrenching for a 18 year old. It’s like an episode of the bachelor. Then as someone who also worked rush with her sorority, she saw how they would put the “popular and pretty” girls in her sorority to match up with the PNM’s (potential new member) that they really wanted to join. If they really didn’t want you, the member you spoke to made it very obvious.
Ugh writing this actually kinda makes me cringe…not gonna lie. It is superficial to the max. And I say this as a sorority member AND with 2 daughters a sorority.
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Now you have me curious about those rush outfit capsules!! 
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Agree with the parallel 100%, @ucbalumnus. That is what I was alluding to. 
Last night I also mentioned in another strand that applicants to highly selective colleges and programs should skip the extra high school classes online and the self-study AP tests.
It sounds very disturbing.
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That’s a pretty accurate analogy, although soft skills come into play to a larger degree with greek rush. Indeed, some people are excluded for silly or spurious reasons, much like with any private club. This dynamic comes into play when availability is restricted just like in colleges that receive more qualified applications than they have spots available.
I haven’t watched the online videos that recent college students have made, but after watching the trailer to this film, I looked up greek participation at U Alabama and it is 35%, which is about double that of my in-state flagship. By deduction, 65% of undergraduates are not participating in greek life.
I haven’t followed it closely, but greek life seems to be declining in popularity in most parts of the country. I can’t speak to U Alabama specifically, but I’m aware of several southern colleges with participation that has declined over the past 20-25 years.
This is how the process works at most colleges. They are notified after each round which houses dropped and which invited them back. There are always some tears, and even though it sounds like a cruel process, the other side of the story is that there are girls who only want to get into whatever is perceived as the “top” (popular) sorority (ies) at their college and refuse to settle for less. When they are dropped from the top choices, they remove themselves from the process and cry foul. My older daughter’s freshman roommate was one of those people.
All PNM’s are counseled by panhellenic as well as the Gamma Chi’s NOT to focus on which sororities are “best” but to focus on finding the best fit. If they do that, they will get a bid. Nonetheless for some girls, it’s the best or bust.
Another side of the story is this - sometimes it IS just a numbers game and not because they don’t think you’re pretty (although I don’t doubt there are chapters out there who are voting on looks & popularity). And sometimes, the members know better than the PNM’s that they aren’t a good fit for a chapter. Both my girls grumbled over being dropped from certain houses and later said that they were glad because it wouldn’t have been a good fit. Neither got a bid from a perceived “top” sorority at their colleges but they each accepted a bid where they were wanted and had good experiences.
There’s somewhat of a thick skin element to the process, which every PNM should reflect on before registering for rush.
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This is consistent with my impressions over the years … impressions made based on various experiences with the greek system involving my experience and that of my wife, one of my kids and countless peers and children of friends. My direct experiences are drawn from UofWashington and Cal, and indirect experiences from WSU, where I’d say 95+% of the kids we’ve known who’ve attended there became involved in it. So, vastly different regional cultures than what you encounter in the southeastern US. Still, I’d imagine there’s some overlap. Of course, there is always the counter example and nothing is 100% applicable, but there are schools where I would have been more concerned with my kids joining than I would have at others. In the PNW, my sense is that it’s a bit more innocuous than it is elsewhere, but even here there are challenges. The WSU Greek system takes partying hard to a professional level, and they are legendary for their efforts. At UW, there is, and has always been since my day, an air of elitism and pretense. But overall I don’t have any particular axe to grind. My one kid who was in a sorority was at a good academic school and the kids seemed pretty level-headed and she had a good experience. I agree with you - she’d probably say the sisterhood for life and the networking opportunities are a bit exaggerated, but there’s something there. For all of my kids, the bonding of team play in sports has been a greater source of FFL, but maybe that’s just them.
Our kids attended large public schools with IB programs, so the broader social circle is unlike those for kidswho attended prep school. Outcomes regularly range from Harvard to no college at all, with large numbers attending WSU and state directionals and cohorts of kids whose “dream school” is Arizona. We see it all. From that experience, a data point worth sharing is that, of the kids who “blew up” sometime during first year and came home in pieces with a substance abuse issue and, in the case of girls, body image/eating disorder issues, 100% of them were in the greek system. So if there is a crack in the china … if there is a vulnerability in a student, the greek system at the wrong school can really accelerate the problem. And, yes, I think there is a difference in experience being in a sorority at, say, U of Arizona (the source of a lot of trouble in our particular cohort), or locally at WSU, than being in student gen pop. The pressure to conform to body type and party a particular way is higher in the Greek system at some schools IMO.
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I always chuckle in any context in which I hear “Top sorority” or “Top frat”. As if there is one. Well, maybe the fijis at UW, but that’s it. 
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I doubt it. They make the numbers work for the “right” kid and use the numbers to excuse the wrong ones, or the ‘less rigtht’ ones. Sororities are, IMO, more pernicious in the way they cull through the cohort than are the fraternities, if I may make such a gross generalization. But that aside, it is 100% based on preferred people over others.
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95+% seems a lot higher than the percentages listed in the last pre-COVID-19 common data sets (section F1) for all of these colleges.
But if the participants in highly competitive rush see it in a way similar to how many posters here see a “top college”, is it that surprising that they go over-the-top in preparing for the highly competitive rush?
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I think this is in reference to kids they personally know, not the population in general on campus. Unless I am mis-reading?
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Some people are academically competitive. Some are socially competitive or athletically competitive, or some compete on appearance. These groups appeal to competitors in one arena for those interested. I expect most students are not, just like most do not compete for the varsity team or the beauty contest.
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Even at schools where they technically aren’t supposed to rush until 2nd semester or even sophomore year, it happens under the radar.
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Huh?
I think you might have meant this for someone else. I’m never at all surprised that greeks go over-the-top … with anything.
At some schools, it is financial for the sororities as well as for the schools. (I don’t know about the finances for fraternities).
At Alabama, about 2500 women participate in rush, and most of those are freshmen living in the dorms. About 2200 pledge to the 19 NPC sororities. They then switch their meal plans to eat at the sorority house.
The sorority houses were built (or remodeled) to accommodate that many students eating there (about 140 first year in the sorority, fewer for the upper grades as there are students on study abroad, off campus for internships, etc). The school also expects to have 2200 fewer dorm students eating in the school cafeterias.
Some schools don’t rush until spring of freshman year, and they have built into their budgets that they’ll have one semester less to collect dues and other fees. Maybe their fees are higher. My niece’s school did spring rush, and most students did at least one semester abroad in junior year, so the chapters knew that too when making a budget. My daughters were both in schools with fall rush and not as many students doing semester abroad, so their budgets were simpler, and IMO their dues lower because they knew everyone would be paying for 8 semesters.
You are not misreading. 95% of the WSU population being greek would be an absurd statement.
Believe it or not, there are members who are devastated when a girl chooses another house too. The member really liked a girl and wanted her to join.
There are 19 houses at Alabama and 2500 girls who want to join, and they can’t all go to the same 2 or 3 ‘best’ houses. Alabama uses the program where if the PNM opts for the maximum number of datebooks (parties) in each round, that PNM is highly likely to receive a bid to at least one house. About 2200 women complete rush divided by 19 houses is about 120 per house (and YES, they do have pledge classes of 150 or more at the bigger houses). The formula allows the houses that didn’t invite the maximum number the year before to invite more to each set of parties and the more popular house to invite fewer thus letting more know in the early rounds that they aren’t going to receive a bid. It used to be that the houses could invite unlimited numbers to every party and then make HUGE cuts on the last night when the house was only going to extend bids to 50 or 100 girls (and the rules of some houses required bids be offered to legacies invited to the last party). It is very rare for a PNM to receive no invitations at all since the houses that didn’t take the bid quota can invite almost all women back to next round, and those who attend parties to the next round.
I was in an unpopular house (which is now #1, so things do change) and we dropped very few. I think out of 1000 we only didn’t extend invitations to 5. They dropped us and we were hurt but then we invited others to join (many who didn’t understand rush so didn’t sign up, but then found they did want to join a sorority).
Some schools have done away with this and provide t-shirts for the rushees to wear so they all look the same. I think it is FSU that does this with the girls wearing the t-shirt, shorts, and sneakers (lots of walking). There is a different t-shirt for each day. No more Jackie Kennedy fashion shows, though if you want to wear pearls with your t-shirt you can do that.
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It didn’t “start as a doc”. People auditioned to live in a house together for the series and were paid for it. That’s an artificial premise from the beginning. You are fundamentally misunderstanding what documentary filmmaking is as a genre.
That said, people do forget that “The Real World” was originally not as salacious as it became and didn’t initially have required group activities set up by the producers.
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